A recent study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine has revealed that industry-funded clinical trials — that is, drug trials funded by pharmaceutical companies — almost always show positive results for the drugs they test. In contrast, only about half of government-funded studies show the same drugs to be safe and effective.

The results of the study may not come as much of a surprise to many who already recognize the corruption inherent in drug company-funded clinical trials. But they do broadcast this reality to a much larger audience than ever before.

According to the study, out of 546 drug trials evaluated, industry-funded studies showed positive outcomes 85 percent of the time while 72 percent of trials funded by nonprofits or non-governmental organizations showed positive results.

Of this 72 percent, those nonprofit and non-governmental studies that received some funding contributions from drug companies showed positive results 85 percent of the time, while those that did not had positive outcomes only 61 percent of the time.

Additionally, 68 percent of industry-funded studies are not published until at least two years after they have been completed, allowing time for data manipulation. On the other hand, more than half of government, nonprofit and non-governmental studies are published within the first two years.

The study paper explains that ClinicalTrials.gov, a repository of all clinical trials completed since 1999, is a great tool for evaluating clinical trials to see who funded them and how long they took to be published. Using this tool, people can evaluate the studies for themselves to assess which ones are trustworthy.